The Tesla and SpaceX boss kicked off his daily million-dollar giveaways on Saturday, October 19, at a town hall in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. “One of the challenges we’re having is like, well, how do we get people to know about this petition? Because the legacy media is— won’t report on it,” Musk said. “now about it? Well, this news, I think, is going to really fly.”

“We really want to get as many people as possible to sign this petition, so I have a surprise for you,” he announced. “And it's that we'll be awarding a million dollars randomly to people who have signed the petition. Every day, until the election.”

Also read | ‘Hinduism is a wicked, pagan religion': How Vivek Ramaswamy reacted to being grilled about his faith's place in US

Following the crowd-rousing announcement, Musk instantly picked a random recipient of the prize to kick things off. The million-dollar cheque went to a self-proclaimed “big fan” of Musk, John Dreher, in the audience. “The only thing we ask for the million dollars is that you be a spokesperson for the petition,” he told the awardee.

About Elon Musk's America PAC petition

The petition states, “The First and Second Amendments guarantee freedom of speech and the right to bear arms. By signing below, I am pledging my support for the First and Second Amendments.”

According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) documents, the tech giant is the sole donor to the pro-Trump petition and has personally contributed at least $75 million (July to September) to help re-elect former President Donald Trump, as per a Fox Business report. The Musk-founded political action committee aims to win over a million voters across the key state along with other swing states of Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina to sign a petition in support of freedom of speech and the right to bear arms by October 21.

Also read | 3 teens from NYC high school football team arrested for sexually abusing teammate; junior varsity seasons scrapped

Musk-funded pro-Trump group struggling to meet its goals?

Contrary to the PAC's original mission statement, The Guardian and Reuters earlier reported that its doorknocking goals aren't necessarily reeling in positive outcomes in some swing states. Sources tied to the group's efforts told the outlets that America PAC's canvassing app has potentially been fraudulently recording fake door-knocks. With paid canvassers possibly missing targets, it shows that externally employed personnel are not as invested in the candidate's victory as campaign staff.

The recently leaked numbers could severely hinder Trump's re-election bid. America PAC's leaked data, obtained by the Guardian, “shows that roughly 24% of the door-knocks in Arizona and 25% of the door-knocks in Nevada this week were flagged under “unusual survey logs” by the Campaign Sidekick canvassing app.”